BIGNELL, Melville Walter David
| Service Number: | WX18042 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 15 December 1941 |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | Not yet discovered |
| Born: | Geraldton, Western Australia, 10 November 1916 |
| Home Town: | Kalgoorlie, Kalgoorlie/Boulder, Western Australia |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Mine Bogger |
| Died: | Kalgoorlie, Western Australia, 12 December 1980, aged 64 years, cause of death not yet discovered |
| Cemetery: |
Karrakatta Cemetery & Crematorium, Western Australia MCB-282497-L1Y4L0 KC00065735 Ashes scattered to the winds |
| Memorials: |
World War 2 Service
| 15 Dec 1941: | Enlisted Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, WX18042 | |
|---|---|---|
| 10 May 1942: | Discharged Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, WX18042 |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by Chris Buckley
Private Melville Walter David Bignell (Service No:WX18042) enlisted in the Australian Army on 15 December 1941. Private Bignell was attached to Armoured Corps Ordnance Workshop when he was medically Discharged on 10 May 1942.
Born in 1916 at Mt Erin in WA, Melville was the seventh of eight children of Elisha (Eli) Bignell (b1871 in Spring Grove, South Australia) and second wife Rachel (Lena) Harriet Maud Jones (b1881 in Bordertown, South Australia). Eli left Victoria for Kalgoorlie WA in 1898 and he and Lena married in 1901. Eli and Lena settled at Mt Erin in WA where they raised their family and Eli was a Farmer.
Melville worked as a Mine Bogger in Kalgoorlie and in 1939 in Wiluna WA married Dulcie Adelaide May Hayward (b1916 in Midland Junction, WA). Following his Discharge in 1942, Melville and Dulcie lived in Kalgoorlie where Melville was a Miner before moving to Claremont WA in 1949 and working as a Mechanic. By 1958 Melville and Dulcie had settled in Kalgoorlie where Melville worked as a Miner until his death in 1980. Dulcie died in 2006.
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